James Bethel James Bethel

Still can't spell Fred's name . . .

It's Tiw's day . . . record low temperatures for this time of year are in tonight's forecasts for TulseyTown...

Words give us something to argue about, while nature can only be experienced. – Fr. Richard Rohr in today's Mediations at CAC.

Today, our compatriot Canadians continue to celebrate their Thanksgiving.

The poet E.E. Cummings was born on this date in 1894 Cambridge, Massachusetts, as was short-story writer Katherine Mansfield. The author of The Garden Party was born in 1888 Wellington, New Zealand.

The week ahead: mixed darkening clouds with some sun. From Joyce Vance's “The Week Ahead,” in Civil Discourse.

Experiencing a bit of overwhelm from the message assaults spewing like cannon-fodder this campaign season? Try this breather of a webinar from The Lenz Foundation.

I'm old enough to remember Robert Trout, who was born on this date in 1909. He and Edward R. Murrow were my role-model-heroes from my radio days. But not old enough to have encountered (beyond the words) Friedrich Nietzsche. One of the world's most influential philosophers – to this day – was born in 1844 Röcken, Saxony, Prussia [Germany].

Spelling Nietzche

I was born in the middle of the war,

to end all wars they said. That may be

why I was never introduced to Nietzsche.

Three other reasons have come to mind

since those halcyon days. First, he was

German and to my Air Corps uncle

and his sister, my mother, nothing good

could possibly come from a place filled

with krauts, jerrys or Fritz's

(notwithstanding Einstein, Beethoven,

Mahler, Sylvia Plath, Rilke, Kraftwerk,

the Alps, Pilsner, or the Black Forest).

Second, if there was any reason to refer

to him, his name was hard to pronounce

let alone, third, spell

particularly if you lived in Oklahoma.

For most of my life, all I knew of Nietzche

was that he wrote a famous book

which became the title of a famous piece

of music written by another famous German,

the opening of which became the theme

for the famous movie 2001: A Space Odyssey,

directed by a famous guy named Kubrick

who wasn't even German.

I learned to pronounce Nietzche

in freshman university philosophy

where I discovered what would become

in these much later years of my life

the only mantra that matters:

What is done out of love

always takes place beyond good and evil.

I still struggle with spelling Fred's last name.

— jab

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James Bethel James Bethel

Cold feet, warm heart . . .

It's the Moon's day … and Northerlies continue to bring a chill to the morning walk to the mailbox here in TulseyTown which was filled with love letters.

Gillian Anderson, the award-winning film, television, and theatre actor, an activist and mother, has published a best seller: Want: submtted by anonoymous (Random House, 2024). The book is a collection of anonymous letters regarding sexuality and circumstance from women who responded to an open public invitation. A recent interview published in Maria Shriver's Sunday Paper ( 10.13.24 ) explored Anderson's motives and responses to the publication.

Close held concerns of men are also the topic of this Huffpost item this morning.

What's love got to do with it?

Celine Dion's “L'hymne a L'amour”

They told her she’d never sing again.

Edith Piaf wrote the lyrics and bared her soul in song for the love of her life, who was killed in a plane crash. Celine Dion took on Piaf's pain, added the loss of her own soulmate, along w/ the agony of an excruciatingly painful, incurable illness and gave us this exhilarating, life-affirming masterpiece. Pain, you'd better leave this woman alone, she outclassed you in every way. – adapted from notes posted with Dion's “L'hymne a L'amour” at the 2024 Paris Olympics. I will probably post this many times. As long as time may allow, I will allow.

The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along. – Rumi

The Way

The Way, the is-ness of things

“is” as water flows.

Water flows in one direction.

Its direction.

— jab

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James Bethel James Bethel

Forgetting how to be crazy . . .

It's Sol's day . . . Northerlies are making their way into TulseyTown bringing our first real taste of Fall overnight tonight and into next week.

Not that you need to, but might be pleased to know

that Paul Simon turns 83 today. The singer-songwriter who changed the character of rock music was born in 1941, Newark, New Jersey. Among his claims to fame: he's still crazy after all these years.

and that trail blazer comedian Lenny Bruce was born on this date in 1925 Mineola on New York's Long Island.

Sometimes A Man Stands Up

Sometimes a man stands up during supper

and walks outdoors, and keeps on walking

because of a church that stands somewhere

in the East.

His children say blessings on him as if he were dead.

And, another man who remains inside his own house,

dies there, inside dishes and glasses,

so that his children have to go far out into the world

toward that same church, which he forgot.

– Rainer Maria Rilke translation by Robert Bly

The Way

Lao Tzu told can be said

only by Yang fearful of Yin.

One true metaphor.

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